^ This, not surprisingly, is a distortion. She did not say that the death of "old racists" was the prerequisite for "racial progress" but, rather, ...
... that the problem would not be solved until older Americans with more racist tendencies die off.
“As long as people can be judged by the color of their skin, the problem is not solved,” she said, adding,“There are still generations of people, older people, who were born and bred and marinated in it – in that prejudice and racism – and they just have to die.” [ibid]
As with the "basket of deplorables," I suspect that what discomforts you about the above is that it shines a light on an inconvenient truth.